Regional markets fire up

Auckland’s market might be easing, but other regions are showing strong growth.

Thursday, November 12th 2015, 12:07PM

by Miriam Bell

The Bay of Plenty’s average asking price has gone up by 11.1% since October 2014 and by 25% over the past five years, according to the latest data from Trade Me Property.

This has left the region’s average asking price at a record high of $483,000.

Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the “Auckland effect” has led to a climb of $4,000 per month over the past year in the Bay of Plenty’s average asking price.

Over the past three years, the region’s average asking price has increased by $105,000, he said.

“The Bay of Plenty is now the second most expensive region in New Zealand to buy a house, behind Auckland but ahead of Wellington, Canterbury and Nelson/Tasman.”

It is not just the Bay of Plenty’s market that has been doing well, many regional property markets are showing strength.

Jeffries said that, while three regions saw declines in expected selling price over the past year, the overall sentiment was favourable.

Eight regions recorded average asking price increases above 5%.

But the fastest-growing regions were the Hawke’s Bay up 19.7% to a new peak at $436,350, Waikato up 11% to $388,500, and the Bay of Plenty up 11% to a new record of $483,000.

Overall, the average asking price outside of Auckland went up by 3.8% in October, which was the biggest single monthly increase in five year, Jefferies said.

“The monthly change in the Index bucks a recent downward trend outside Auckland with average asking prices jumping to a new high of $424,100. That’s added another $15,450 to what sellers were chasing a year ago.”

The Bay of Plenty, the Hawke’s Bay and Nelson were key drivers of the regional growth.

Meanwhile, Jeffries said Auckland’s market is showing clear signs of slowing, despite prices edging toward the $800,000 mark.

In October, the average asking price in Auckland went up by just over 2% to $792,000.

“But it now looks like the peak for year-on-year growth was July’s 20% leap,” Jeffries said.

“Over the past four months we’ve watched that slip back to 18%. It’s worth noting this adds up to a $121,000 increase in Auckland asking prices since July so it’s still far from sluggish.”

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